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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28989279">Outsider</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves'>flowersforgraves</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bajoran Culture, Gen, identity exploration</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:54:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28989279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira and Ziyal have a discussion about culture, identity, and being an outsider.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kira Nerys &amp; Tora Ziyal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Outsider</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enisy/gifts">Enisy</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Enisy, via the <a href="https://equalityauction.dreamwidth.org/">2020 Equality Auction</a> on Dreamwidth.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the service, Kira and Ziyal stay for a while. Kira likes cleaning up, and there’s a girl around Ziyal’s age who’s started trying to bring her into a social group, so there’s something for both of them to do. There’s more to going to temple than just the service, and Kira’s more than happy to let Ziyal experience that too.</p>
<p>When they leave, Ziyal is unusually quiet. Kira lets her stew in her thoughts for a while, but once they’re sat down at a table on the upper level of the Promenade, holding steaming mugs of tea and perusing the menu of the new Andorian-Klingon fusion restaurant, she decides Ziyal’s spent enough time frowning.</p>
<p>“Wandering the Prophets’ path?” she asks, keeping her voice casual.</p>
<p>Ziyal looks up from where she’s staring into the depths of her mug, startled. “No – well, yes, maybe a little.” She smiles ruefully, and Kira grins back.</p>
<p>“You can’t fool me,” Kira tells her. “I know that look. That’s the expression of someone who’s overthinking something.”</p>
<p>“Me? No, never!” Ziyal exclaims, tucking a loose bit of hair behind her ear. The silence is more comfortable now, less heavy, and Kira’s never been one to push further than she needs to, so she lets it lie.</p>
<p>It’s barely thirty seconds later that Ziyal sets her mug down and says, “Just, I feel like I shouldn’t be at a Bajoran service at all. Even as your guest. I’m an outsider.”</p>
<p>Kira shrugs, taking a sip of tea. “You are an outsider. And that’s why it’s good for you to come to the temple with me. You’re allowed to come in. Even if you’re not half Bajoran, I invited you in. And since you are, you’re more than welcome even if I’m not there. And I don’t – honestly, Ziyal, for as much as I was always tied up in what it meant to be Bajoran, I don’t think I really understood it until you started asking me.”</p>
<p>She frowns. “Isn’t me being an outsider – doesn’t that make you, or the other people there, resent me for being a Cardassian?”</p>
<p>“Your mother was Bajoran. That makes you Bajoran,” Kira says seriously. She doesn’t put down her mug, but she leans forward, emphasizing her point. “Part of the way we have to change after the occupation? That’s going to be changing what we mean by outsider. You have every right to learn about your mother’s people.”</p>
<p>Ziyal nods slowly. “It’s not a choice between my parents. I don’t have to choose one or the other.” She’s hesitant still, but she’s making a statement, not asking a question, and Kira thinks that’s going to be good enough.</p>
<p>“Exactly,” she tells Ziyal. “I was never really religious, you know? But it’s been nice to get to show you what going to temple is like and some of the traditions I don’t ever think about.” As Ziyal takes a breath, probably about to make some sort of emotionally vulnerable comment, Kira finally sets her tea down. “If your father has a problem with it, he’ll have to take it up with me.”</p>
<p>Ziyal’s breath hiccups slightly. Kira’s last comment had apparently thrown Ziyal off more than she’d meant to, but she still gives Kira another wavery smile, firmer than the one she’d had before. “Well, what’s the point of growing up if not disappointing a parent at least a little bit?” she jokes. “Frankly, I think he’d rather I spend time with you than Garak.”</p>
<p>“I would also rather you spend time with me than Garak,” Kira says, slightly acerbic. “That man is nothing but trouble.”</p>
<p>Ziyal gasps in mock astonishment. “Is this it? Is this the one opinion that you and my father agree on?”</p>
<p>Kira grins. “No, this doesn’t count,” she says. “Garak’s trouble. That’s a fact, not an opinion.”</p>
<p>Ziyal laughs, clear bell-toned voice ringing out in the relative quiet of the upper Promenade. “It’s easier to ask him questions than it is my father.” She pauses. “How much he’s editorializing I’m not sure, but it’s better to have a second perspective on… everything.”</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t have to like it, but as long as he’s not doing anything horrible I can’t stop you,” Kira says. </p>
<p>“What a ringing endorsement,” Ziyal says, and snorts. The slightest undercurrent of tension is audible only because Kira’s listening for it, but Ziyal shrugs it off after a frozen second. </p>
<p>“I was thinking about trying to make hasperat,” Kira says, redirecting the conversation as a tiny apology. “I’ve never done it before, but I think it could be a project for us together, if you want.”</p>
<p>Immediately, Ziyal brightens. “Oh, really? That sounds great,” she says. “When were you thinking of doing it?”</p>
<p>Kira pulls out the PADD with her schedule pinned to the top. “Well, my next day off is a week from yesterday. We can try round one that day, and depending on how it goes we can try again later.”</p>
<p>“Perfect,” Ziyal says. “I’m going to meet up with a couple of the girls from temple later this week, so I shouldn’t have anything going on then.”</p>
<p>Kira wonders, then, if this swelling warmth in her chest is what a proud parent feels at a child’s accomplishments. “Is it the games group?” she asks.</p>
<p>Ziyal nods. “Yes. They just finished a chess tournament last week, so this week is apparently the best time to jump in. With a break from tournaments, I should be able to get to know people better before there’s another. I think they said they’re bringing in a few other new people this week too, so I won’t be lost on my own.”</p>
<p>“Good,” Kira says. “Good, I’m – it’s good to hear you’re getting out more.” Her throat is a little bit tight, which is ridiculous, but it’s happening whether she wants it to or not.</p>
<p>Ziyal leans forward and places a hand over hers. “Thank you,” she says, deeply sincere, and Kira doesn’t ask her to say anything more.</p>
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